Research Projects

Doctoral Research Projects

 

Promoting systemic and adaptive governance in conservation: a national protected area expansion project.

The aim is to promote learning from theory and practice, to provide insight and promote systemic adaptive landscape scale governance through a network of low-cost expanded PA’s.
 
Student: Samantha McCulloch
Promotor/s: Peter Novellie and Dirk Roux
Study Area: Associated GEF 5 projects in Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape
Duration: 2017 – 2021
Funding: SANParks; GEF 5 programme
Project Objectives:
  1. How can the theory on network governance and landscape scale conservation inform effective and sustainable governance for the expanded national network of protected areas, to sustain past the donor funding cycle?
  2. What can we learn from past and current South African stewardship initiatives?
  3. How can social network analysis and facilitation of common goal setting, develop and influence the governance of the GEF 5-SA project?

 

Collaborative decision support systems to prioritize invasive plant management in the Garden Route, South Africa.

Student: Current Masunungure
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius, Dr. Anton de Wit
Study Area: Eden District
Duration: 2017 - 2020
Funding: Department of Environmental Affairs
Project Objectives:
  1. To identify stakeholders and ecological units (‘peoplescapes’) relevant to invasive plant management in the Garden Route.
  2. To characterise the current decision making for IAP management and identify its strength and weaknesses.
  3. To design and propose a model based invasive alien plant management decision support system application. (Based on the building blocks of the previous objectives) To identify finer-scaled hotspots within catchments for priority adaptive management activities
  4. To identify finer-scaled hotspots within catchments for priority adaptive management activities.
 
 

Social-ecological systems approaches to integrated water management: The Swartkops Estuary as a laboratory.

Student: Zanele Hartmann
Promotor/s: Dr. Bernadette Snow and Prof. Christo Fabricius
Study Area: Swartkops Estuary, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Duration: 2017 - 2021
Project Objectives:
  1. Describe the current management system of the estuary.
  2. Assess the views of local stakeholders, and authorities (policy makers) policy implementers about the management system.
  3. Evaluate the consequences, for human well-being and ecosystem services, of the current management system.
  4. Co-develop a novel, transformative management system with stakeholders.
  5. Evaluate its legitimacy acceptability and practicability.

 

Small-scale organic farming and the use of the Participatory Guarentee System (PGS) in rural and peri-urban South Africa: case studies of farmers in Garden Route Western Cape and Giyani.

Student: Jama Mashele
Promotor/s: Prof. Raymond Auerbach and Prof. Robert Fincham
Study Area: Giyani Municipality (Nkomo village in Limpopo Province), Overberg Municipality (miltiple towns) and Garden Route Municipality (miltiple towns)
Duration: 2018-2021
Project Objectives:
  1. Review literature on agricultural systems, how they are impacted by social-economic, environmental and educational factors from global to local scales as a context for understanding PGS.
  2. Examine the social-economic, environmental and educational status of organic farmers in PGS’s and whether this status is conducive for resilient and successful farmers.
  3. Identify the drivers to making organic farming a resilient income earning enterprise.
  4. Evaluate the extent to which the PGS facilitates a learning process among farmers in terms of environmental, nutritional, economic and social learning.
  5. Propose an improved PGS framework that caters for the unique SA conditions.

 

Understanding African mammal species' responses to anthropogenic landscapes and their level of anthropodependence.

Student: Alice Bernard
Promotor/s: Prof. Hervé Fritz, Co-supervisors: Dr, Jan Venter and Dr. Chloé Guerbois
Study Area: De Hoop Nature reserve and in the Overberg + The Knysna and Wilderness sections of the Garden Route National Park and surrounding anthropogenic areas.
Duration: 3 years
Project Objectives:
  1. Improve our understanding on how anthropogenic environments affect mammal communities, 
  2. Describe how humans are influencing wildlife distribution 
  3. Explain individual strategies (land use, home range, resources consumption) of small carnivores in anthropogenic landscapes.

 

The need for space: rethinking conservation for reconciliation within socio-ecosystems.

Student: Elie Pedarros
Promotor/s: Prof. Hervé Fritz and Dr. Chloé Guerbois
Study Area: Garden Route National Park and Kalahari.
Duration: 3 years
Project Objectives:
  1. Reconciliation ecology as an integrative conservation framework.
  2. Spatial-temporal occupancy within the anthropogenic matrix.
  3. Human perspectives on reconciliation.
 

 

Masters Research Projects

 

Chacma baboon crop raiding patterns and farmer perceptions of deterrent methods in Waboomskraal and Herold agricultural areas in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Student: Keesha Chetty
Promotor/s: Dr. Brandi Wren and Dr. Bianca Currie
Study Area: Waboomskraal and Herold.
Duration: 3 years
Project Objectives:
  1. Understand the attitudes and knowledge of farmers relating to crop raiding baboons on their farms.
  2. Investigate crop raiding trends related to raiding patterns and crop type.
  3. Identify the methods used by farmers to deter baboons from their crops.
 

Participatory mapping of non-material benefits in Mountain Zebra National Park, South Africa. 

Student: Nelsiwe Mpapane
Promotor/s: Prof. Dirk Roux and Dr. Bianca Currie
Study Area: Mountain Zebra National Park
Duration: 2 years
Project Objectives:
  1. To adopt and use a cultural ecosystem service conceptual framework to critically assess human-nature interactions in a protected area.
  2. To identify realised and potential classes of CES in MZNP and explore any discrepancy between these.
  3. Explore the spatial and demographic attributes of the perceived CES in MZNP.
 

 

 

 

Completed Research Projects

 

Assessing mandated organization capacity to implement eco-innovation strategies in the Garden Route, South Africa

Student: Samantha Mc Culloch
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius and Dr. Dirk Roux
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2013 – 2014
Funding: Water Research Commission and National Research Foundation Scarce-Skills Scholarship.
 
 

Media and communication influences on farmers' views of water conservation in the Garden Route, South Africa.

Student: Thea Buckle
Promotor/s: Prof Christo Fabricius and Dr. Janina Wozniak
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2014-2015
Funding: Water Research Commission; Nelson Mandela University PGRS
 
 

A case study of human-baboon co-habitation on NMMU George Campus, South Africa.

Student: Peet Botes
Promotor/s: Dr. Corli Coetsee and Prof. Christo Fabricius
Stduy Area: Nelson Mandela University George Campus
Duration: 2013-2014
 
 

Plant survival in relation to microcatchments in a Nama-Karoo riparian ecosystem restoration trial.

Student: Andrew Jackson
Promotor/s: Dr. ben Wigley and Dr. Sue Milton-Dean
Study Area: Sakrivierspoort Farm, Loxton, Northern Cape
Duration: 2013-2014
Funding: Endangered Wildlife Trust, Nelson Mandela University Faculty of Science and Fairfield
 
 

Influence of stakeholder identities on benefit sharing related to use of the Wilderness and Swartvlei lake systems.

Student: Aneri Vlok
Promotor/s: Prof. Janine Adams and Dr. Dirk Roux
Study Area: Wilderness and Swartvlei Lakes
Duration: 2012-2013
Funding: Water Research Commision
 
 

Determining the extent to which ecological infrastructure is considered during the process of planning and development in the Eden Coastal District.

Student: Abigail Crisp
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius and Dr. Dirk Roux
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2013-2014
Funding: National Research Foundation Innovation Scholarship
 
 

The suitability of remote sensing for prioritising management of invasive plants in the Garden Route, South Africa.

Student: Rosie Gerolemou
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius, Prof. Dirk Roux and Dr. Heidi van Deventer (CSIR)
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Funding: National Research Foundation, Nelson Mandela University PGRS and DEA
 
 

Exploring Different Approaches in the Prioritisation of Protected Areas: A Case Study in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Student: Kate Southey
Promotor/s: Prof Graham Kerley
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2013-2014
Funding: Nelson Mandela University Faculty of Science, Sustsainability Research Unit and Zoology Department
 
 

Invasive alien vegetation management, resilience and strategic adaptive  management in South African National Parks.

Student: Wynand Loftus
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius
Study Area: SANParks
Duration: 2012-2013
Funding: National Research Foundation
 
 

Social Learning for public participation in environmental management in the Knysna Municipality, South Africa.

Student: Bianca Currie
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius
Study Area: Knysna, Western Cape
Funding: National research Foundation
 
 

Enhancing water security practices in the eastern and southern Cape, South Africa.

Project Participants: Nelson Mandela University Sustainability Research Unit, Rhodes University, University of Fort Hare
Study Area: Eden District Municipality
Duration: 2012-2014
Funding: National research Foundation and Department of Science and Innovation
 
 

Learning and reflection for adaptive co-management of ecosystems.

Project Participants: Nelson Mandela University Sustainability Research Unit
Study Area: Eden District Municipality
Duration: 2011-2014
Funding: National Research Foundation
 
 

Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS).

Project Participants: Nelson Mandela University George Sustainability Research Unit; Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; University of Stellenbosch; Rhodes University; various other South African universities; Stockholm Resilience Centre
Study Area: Southern Africa
 
 

When adaptation isn’t enough: transformations towards earth stewardship in social-ecological systems.

Project Participants: Nelson Mandela University Sustainability Research Unit
Study Area: Western Cape
Funding: nelson Mandela University
 
 

Historic trends in recreational angling catches reported in local newspapers (1940–2012).

Collaborators: Jaco Barendse, Kyle Smith (SANParks), Stefan Oosthuizen and Duane Roberts
 
 

Various aspects relating to the Sustainable Seafood in South Africa.

Collaborators: Jaco Barendse, SANBI and WWF
 
 

Molecular analyses of two indigenous estuarine fish species in an isolated coastal lake: implications for the management of exotic ichthyofauna.

Collaborators: Nikki Gartrell and Sophie vonder Heyden (Stellenbosch University), Jaco Barendse and Kyle Smith (SANParks).

 

Environmental stewardship in South Africa.

Collaborators: Jaco Barendse,Prof. Christo Fabricius, Dr. Dirk Roux and Bianca Currie

 

Linking social networks and social capital to ecological infrastructure.

Project Participants: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Nelson Mandela University George Sustainability Research Unit; World Wide Fund for Nature; South African National Biodiversity Institute.
Study Area: Eden District Municipality
Duration: 2013-2015
Funding: Water Research Commission

 

Motivation in ecosystem stewardship and the resilience of biodiversity commons- The case of South Africa’s Garden Route.

Student: Lisa Heider
Promotor/s: Prof. Christo Fabricius 
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2014-2016
Funding: National Research Foundation

 

Optimising the beneficiation of invasive alien plants biomass.

Post-doc fellow: Dr. Yashwant Rawat 
Study Area: Garden Route, Western Cape
Duration: 2016-2017
 
 

The MAGIC Project: Multi-scale adaptations to climate change and social-ecological sustainability in coastal areas.

Project participants: Nelson Mandela University George Sustainability Research Unit, Centre for Environmental Sustainability at University of Exeter (United Kingdom), CIRAD and IRSTEA (France), Resilience Alliance 
Study Area: Coastal areas of Eden District Municipality (South Africa), Cornwall (United Kingdom), Languedoc-Rousseilon (France).
Duration: 2013-2015
Funding: National Research Foundation, Nelson Mandela University George Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University Research Management, Belmont Forum.